Last Updated on September 4, 2024 by Amit Patra
The Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed the prayer for release of stay on the movie ‘Emergency’ featuring Kangana Ranaut but asked the CBFC to consider the objections of the petitioners against the movie before passing an order for granting censor certificate to the movie.
This was a PIL against the release of the film, which was set for the 6th of September. The petitioners from various Gurdwaras, schools and colleges from Jabalpur and Indore said that they feared that the trailer of the film depicted Amritdari Sikhs killing people, and the dialogue in the film “Khalistan vaste vote nahi chahiye” is provocative.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf stated that the “we make it clear that we will not interfere at this stage since the censor certificate has not been accorded. However, the Board shall take into consideration detailed objections particularly with reference to the trailer”. The Bench said it trusts the CBFC and advised the petitioners to come back to court if they think that the board has been wrong in its decision.
The court also directed that the CBFC should act upon the petitioners’ grievances within three days. The court also stated that it had no reason to believe that the film would create a divide between the communities while the CBFC is fully aware of the rules it has to follow. The court was informed that last month the film was certified but was stopped due to representations of objections.
It highlights a great challenge that the judiciary faced while trying to balance artistic liberty with the public’s demand for satisfaction. Though directing the CBFC to take conscious decision about the objections raised, it has provided scrutiny before the release of the film. The impact of such scrutiny and more legal changes will be anxiously observed with regard to the case concerning the contentious issues of freedom of speech and religion and the nature of censorship in the Indian movie industry.
